Destiny in their own hands

With four games remaining against rival UC San Diego (UCSD), the Coyotes look to finish the regular season off strong.

It’s imperative for the Coyotes to finish strong to ensure a spot in the CCAA tournament and to carry momentum into the tournament.

Only the top for teams of the conference qualify for the tournament and it’s still a possibility that the Coyotes will or won’t qualify.

Coach Don Parnell feels that if the Coyote’s do not play well in their remaining games and do not qualify to the tournament it will be because they beat themselves and in turn don’t deserve to be in the tournament.

The Coyotes will travel down south for two road games against UCSD.

The games are scheduled for May 5 and May 6.

The Coyotes will then finish the regular season with a double header against UC San Diego on Saturday May 7 at Fiscalini Field, in San Bernardino.

Hopefully when the dust has settled after this weekend’s clash with the Tritons the Coyotes will be in the tournament and not on the outside looking in.

Playing well against a formidable team like UCSD will greatly improve the Coyotes chances of qualifying for the tournament and in turn give them confidence to know they can beat anyone in the tournament.

The Coyotes should already have some confidence having split four games against top seeded Chico State with all four games played at Chico State’s home field.

Pitching, defense and of course offense are all keys to success.

The Coyotes have been solid in pitching and defense all season but the bats recently started coming around.

Parnell thinks that the Coyotes slow start on offense can partly be attributed to new bats. He feels that his players had to get adjusted to the new bats.

Parnel roughly estimates that the batting average across the conference has dropped about 30 percentage points.

A sure sign that it’s not just the Coyotes who needed to adjust to the new bats.

Good pitching is the most important part in winning a baseball game.

The Coyotes have a great pitcher in Aaron Brooks who was named the CCAA pitcher of the week for the week of April 18-23.

Brooks overwhelmed Cal State Monterey Bay on April 21 pitching a 2-0 shutout. Brooks pitched a complete game his 3rd of the season and at one point retired 14 straight Otters.

The Coyotes will need good starting pitching like this not only by Brooks but by their entire pitching staff.

If the Coyotes take a lead into the 9th inning they have a great closer in Josh Pond.

Pond continues to add to his saves record he established earlier this season.

Pond leads the Coyotes in ERA.

If the Coyotes somehow find a way to click in pitching, hitting, and defense the sky is the limit.

Come out to Fiscalini Field Saturday May 7 to show your support for our Coyotes baseball team.